U.S Blogger, Avijit Roy Killed In Front Of Wife In Bangladesh

Avijit Roy’s wife, Rafida Ahmed Banna, is carried on a stretcher after being seriously injured by unidentified assailants.

BANGLADESH –

PROMINENT Bangladeshi-American blogger, Avijit Roy who spoke out for secular freedom has been killed in attack on a Dhaka street.

Assailants attacked the founder of the website Mukto-Mona, and his wife Thursday night as they were walking back from a speaking engagement, said Krishna Pada Roy, a deputy commissioner with the Dhaka police.

Roy was transported to a nearby hospital where he died, the police boss said.

His wife suffered injuries of her own, including a severed finger.

Last year, an Islamist activist said that Roy “will be murdered when he comes back” to Bangladesh, the International Humanist and Ethical Union said.

Police were investigating a “local hard-line religious group” that praised the killing online.

The attack is reminiscent of January’s terrorist assault in Paris on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people were killed by Islamic extremists.

Based out of the Atlanta area, Roy was a “prominent defender of the free thought movement, science and metaphysical naturalism,” according to his website.

He authored seven books and his writings were also featured in numerous magazines and journals.

Roy’s outspokenness, especially on matters of religion, made him a target in Bangladesh, where nearly 90% of people are Muslim and 10% are Hindu, according to the U.S. government.